Serves 6 to 8
Photo from Jugalbandi.
A hearty, luscious and flavorful chili, brimming with the goodness of tempeh and rounded out with the greatness of beer. I like to serve it with a mound of guacamole and thick slices of cornbread. Some finely chopped red onions sprinkled over the top wouldn’t hurt either.
1 package (8 oz) tempeh, diced medium
1 large yellow onion, diced medium
1 green bell pepper, diced medium
1 large carrot, diced small
3 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon olive oil + 2 teaspoons
2 teaspoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Couple of generous dashes fresh black pepper
15 oz can pinto beans, drained
1 cup good dark beer (I use Negra Modelo)
15 oz can diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water or veg broth
2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Handful fresh cilantro, chopped (about a cup, lightly packed)
In a large pot, cook onions, green bell pepper and carrots over med-high heat, until tender and a little brown (15-20 minutes) stirring occasionally.
At the same time, put tempeh in a large frying pan and fill with water until it is almost covered. Add 2 teaspoons soy sauce and let simmer over high heat for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed, stirring occasionally. When water is mostly absorbed, mash tempeh with a fork, so it’s crumbly but still chunky. Lower heat to medium and add 2 teaspoons olive oil , saute for 15 more minutes.
At this point, the twenty minutes for your veggies should be up. Add garlic and saute one minute, then add salt and spices (except cilantro, you add that last) and saute a minute more. Add beer and deglaze the pot. Cook for 2 minutes. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, beans and water. Your tempeh should be done cooking so add that as well. Lower heat to medium, stir it up and cover for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook 30 more minutes stirring occasionally. Add maple syrup, lemon juice and stir it up. Add cilantro. Serve!
When do you add the carrot? And what if you don’t have dark beer… any substitute suggestions? Thanks!!
I added the carrot with the peppers and onions. Also, in the instructions it says to add tomato sauce, but I assumed that meant the 18oz can of diced tomatoes. I used Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout for the beer, which is probably ludicrous to cook with, but I think it really gave it a rich flavor. All my meat eating friends loved it too. soooo good!
This was insanely delish and seems like one of those stews that will taste even better after sitting in the fridge a couple days. It was perfect with some of cornbread.
Thinking of substituting Coffee for the beer (like a Cincinnatti Chili) to make it child friendly and maybe add some cocoa powder too!
has anybody tried to freeze this? if so, how long does it last?
have some tempeh i need to use up and i can’t eat all of this on my own!
thanks:)
I freezed it without problem. I thawed it in the fridge for one day. It was as good as fresh.
As for the recipe per se, I love it.
Made this using samuel smith’s imperial stout, and added about 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, as well as a teaspoon of chocolate extract for the sake of experimentation. Turned out delicious, one of the best chili recipes ever.
@Skinnie, how does adding coffee instead of beer make this child friendly? The alcohol will cook off, the caffeine wil not.
NEGRA MODELO <3
O’Doul’s works, too. I’m still having trouble with the carrot part. This isn’t the only recipe I’ve had where she doesn’t tell you when to put in every ingredient. . . I’ll try putting it in with the onions and peppers: thanks for the suggestion, Erik!
Also, are any of you able to find an 18oz can of tomatoes? I have done 15 and 28 both with reasonable success. I’ve also had success with black beans instead of or in addition to the pintos.
Sorry, I updated the recipe! Should be 15 oz tomatoes and the carrot goes in with the other veggies.
Even better, find an 18 oz JAR of tomatoes. The cans still have plastic linings, even if it’s BPA free, and since tomatoes are so acidic, it’s best to avoid canned ones. Glass jars are becoming more available lately and I think they taste better. Can’t wait to make this recipe tonight, happy birthday me!
Thanks! You do say “veggies,” so I was probably being unsure for no reason. . . Thanks for answering back!
I’ll look over the recipe I was making the other day where I wasn’t sure when to add something so you can look it over if you want to. I think it’s for the potato kale enchiladas, but I don’t know how much it matters since it’s in a published book and not a website (Veganomicon)
This is my go to chili recipe. So good and warming this time of year!
this is delicious, added chopped celery and used an IPA instead of dark beer. will make this again and again and again all winter long
I made this and it smelled/ looked great, and then I added the lemon juice and destroyed it completely. I read quickly as “half cup of lemon juice” instead of juice of 1/2 a lemon. I’m still not sure how much juice 1/2 a lemon would be… Anyway, now it tastes completely like lemon juice and is very sour! Is there any way to save my chili, or should I make it all over again?
Erik, ‘meat-eating friends’? Trade them in; they don’t last as long 🙂
I made mine with barley wine instead of “beer” proper… good, dark and mmmmmm. I think I just enjoy cooking with booze. 🙂
It says tomato sauce but there’s no sauce listed in the ingredients. I’m going to assume this means diced tomatoes since tomato paste is already listed?
Does anyone know how much chili this makes? Or how big the servings are? I want to make this for a pot-luck sort of thing at work, but I need a certain specific volume.
Maybe like 4 quarts or so? It makes quite a bit.
I made this tonight. I loved it! I’m glad I found a new way to use tempeh. I usually find it too smelly and fermented for my taste but here it’s perfect and the consistency is lovely. I forgot the beer so I added some of the wine I was drinking, and it turned out really nice.
what about substituting miso for the beer? If not miso, what else?
I’ve been meaning to say this for a while: this is the veggie chili recipe I’ve been searching for all my life. Thank you.
I reckon 3 tablespoons of chili would be a bit much for most people – I’d start with a teaspoon full and work up from there, if i were you. Great recipe though.
Chili powder, not like cayenne or anything!
Chili powders can range dramatically… ours happens to have been forged in the fiery depths of the underworld. One teaspoon is too much for any recipe, and we love spicy food! Although I’m assuming most people who have that level of chili powder know better, John is right that it might require a little * warning. 🙂
Has anyone tried to make this recipe in a crockpot? I would love any suggestions. I’m planning to make this for my husband’s meat eating family, wish me luck! 🙂
I left off the cilantro, the maple syrup and the lemon juice. And instead of tempeh i used TVP, which worked really well. I also added one jalapeno. Mm spicy. Great recipe, very tasty. I used Black Butte, but since you can’t even taste it at the end i’m sure you could replace with a cup of broth, water or the leftover water from cooking beans, if you have that handy. Great served over polenta!
Left over water from cooking beans is the very substance that makes them such a musical fruit. :-0
I have been using this recipe for years!!! Discovered this site back in college. I have experimented with it a lot because it is such a flexible recipe. I really like using kidney and black beans in addition to the pinto and I throw in whatever veggies I have around and it always comes out great! When I first discovered this site years ago, someone had commented that they used half chili powder and half red curry powder. I always opt for this combo. So good! Thank you so much for this site and this recipe. You helped learn how to cook!
i’m really interested in this recipe, but am relatively new to tempeh. i’ve been buying and using Trader Joe’s tempeh, which is precooked. when this recipe calls for boiling the tempeh in water and soy sauce, is the purpose to cook the tempeh, or to just flavor pre-cooked tempeh? i’m wondering if you’re using an uncooked type of tempeh that i don’t yet know about. thanks.
Stephanie, three cheers for TJ’s tempeh! I understand the purpose of pre-steaming tempeh is primarily to get rid of a bitter undernote that tempeh often has. But with TJ’s tempeh, I never bother with this because unlike other brands of tempeh I’ve tried, it never has that aftertaste anyway. On the other hand, I’ve heard that steaming tempeh with something other than water, like beer, can make it extra-flavorful and delicious, and I imagine that’s what Isa is going for by adding the soy sauce. So my thought is, you will probably end up with extra-wonderful chili if you go ahead and do that step, but you probably don’t need to if you’re pinched for time. Happy tempeh-devouring!
Made this tonight – very very flavorful!! There’s something special about it, unlike other veg chili recipes.
This was so good! I added a couple jalapenos to make it extra spicy, but this recipe is fantastic! I will be making it again, for sure. Thank you, Isa!
First time cooking with tempeh and this was def the right recipe to choose. Absolutely delicious…everyone loved it including my two children. Oh, I used miso paste intead of beer, I have coeliac disease!
best chili of ALL TIME
I made this chili and it came out so salty! Maybe it’s because I used water instead of beer? Anyway I think I’ll skip on adding the salt next time. I love this chili other than that.
How dark can I go with this beer? Scotch Ale.. Porter.. Barleywine.. Stout? What about a bourbon barrel-aged beer?